Franco Pignataro
SANTA FE – Franco Pignataro, 81, passed from this life in the ICU at Clear Lake Regional Medical Center early Sunday morning, September 12, surrounded by his loving daughters, Nuccia, Lina and Franca.
Visitation or viewing and funeral services will be at Hayes Funeral Home, 10412 Hwy 6, (409) 925-3501. Visitation for friends and family will be Wednesday, September 15, from 5 – 8 p.m. Funeral services will be conducted Thursday, September 16, at 11:00 a.m. Entombment will follow the funeral services at Mt. Olivet Mausoleum in Dickinson.
Franco was preceded in death by his wife, Domenica Emilia Pignataro; his parents, Salvatore Pignataro and Sebastiana Tosto; his sister, Maria Guardo; brothers, Salvatore Pignataro, Guiseppi Pignataro and Miguelle Pignataro of Sicily, Italy.
Survivors include his daughters, Nuccia Pignataro of Santa Fe, Lina Pignataro of Friendswood, Franca Pignataro of Santa Fe; his two grandsons, Domenico and Franceso Pignataro of Santa Fe; and his sister, Giusseppa Zannone of Houston.
Franco was born April 3, 1929 in Catania, Sicily where he served as a Carabiniere (Royal Police) for 7 years before coming to America and setteling in Santa Fe in 1954. Franco and Domenica operated Grasso’s Egg Farm for 13 years in Santa Fe on Highway 6. In 1971, they opened Franco’s Real Italian Restaurant on NASA Road 1 which is still in operation as Franca’s Real Italian Restaurant. In 1978 they opened a second restaurant in Santa Fe, followed by a third on Telephone Road in Houston and a fourth was opened in 1979 in Galveston.
Franco will be forever missed by his loving family, friends and his many customers whom he considered his extended family.
Nuccia, Lina and Franca family would like to thank the doctors, nurses and technicians at Clear Lake Regional Medical Center and Clear Lake Rehabilitation Hospital for their wonderful and loving care given to their father.
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